Gophers defensive back Briean Boddy-Calhoun unsnaps his helmet after returning a interception 89 yards for a touchdown against UNLV during the fourth quarter as fans celebrate at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis, Thursday, August 29, 2013. The Gophers beat the Rebels, 51-23. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Two very happy Gophers fans hug as the Gophers score another touchdown against UNLV during the third quarter of an NCAA Football game at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis, Thursday, August 29, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

The Golden Gophers football team will be dining out this weekend, traveling all the way to Las Cruces, N.M., for its weekly nonconference cream puff.

This marks the only time in nonconference play the Gophers will venture off campus. They won’t travel again until Oct. 5, when the Big Ten will insist they make an appearance in Ann Arbor. So this game against New Mexico State is important in that it will provide valuable experience. The younger student-athletes will learn how to check into a hotel, adjust a thermostat and request a wakeup call.

These are real life lessons. Hey, some of those TV remotes can be tricky. Push the “pay per view” button by mistake, and NCAA enforcement minions will be waiting at the airport. And the pop machines in the hall often will spit out incorrect change, potentially ripping off unsuspecting youngsters who aren’t quite sure about where to complain.

As for football lessons, well, the Aggies were crushed by Texas 56-7 in Austin last week. That probably softened them up for the Gophers, who will become the first Big Ten team ever to visit Aggie Memorial Stadium. My guess is that others will be arriving to this honey hole soon.

For the Gophers, this is all about self-motivation. It’s about competing against their previous week’s performance in an effort to improve. Their nonconference foes are stage props; there shouldn’t be much resistance en route to a 4-0 mark. So this is about development rather than margin of victory. These are small steps that might someday lead to larger ones. Maybe.

Remember that Minnesota paid North Carolina $800,000 to vacate this spot on the schedule. The Aggies, ever willing tomato cans, gladly stepped into the ring instead. When it comes to scheduling, they are the anti-Gophers. They have shown a readiness to schedule way over their heads and collect their payday. To each his own.

“There’s a lot of good football teams at all different levels in all different ways,” Gophers coach Jerry Kill said. “You have to be ready to play each week.”

I suppose. In fact, the Gophers lost at home to the Aggies in Kill’s first season here. It was one of nine Minnesota defeats in 2011.

“I think if you’re a competitor, and I know I am, if you get beat by somebody and you get a chance to play again, if that doesn’t motivate you a little bit then I don’t think you’re human,” Kill said.

But this isn’t really a revenge game. My goodness, the Aggies have enough to worry about. They don’t need a bunch of big, angry guys looking to take a chunk out of them. The truth is that the Gophers probably won’t even know how well or poorly they played in this game until they get back and look at the video.

The Gophers defeated UNLV 51-23 on Thursday, and a good time was had by all. But then the coaches got ahold of the game film and discovered an awful lot things they didn’t like.

“Film don’t lie,” Kill noted.

“Actually, when we looked at the film we saw a lot of mistakes,” quarterback Philip Nelson said.

Nelson will learn that coaches consider it their solemn duty to find mistakes on film. But as long as they find fewer the next time around, they usually are content.

Meanwhile, the defense is getting all sorts of conditioning work. It played no-huddle UNLV in 90-plus heat in Minneapolis. In the New Mexican desert, the Aggies also will run a version of the no-huddle offense. Kill and Nelson know the Gophers’ offense needs to stay on the field long enough to give the defense a break. Otherwise there will be some sweaty, ill-tempered, 300-pounders.

“We want to be able to eat up the clock. We want to be able to move the ball methodically downfield,” Nelson said. “Never take any negative losses and avoid three and outs because that just kills momentum.”

Again, it’s not a matter of “if” they will devour this cream puff. It’s about how they go about it. The ideal scenario has them taking care of business a bit more efficiently than the week before. Oh, and also learning how to work the elevator buttons in a hotel.

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